Free Dark Serpent by Kylie Chan

Turtle act through the Serpent?’
    ‘Don’t want to, could rejoin,’ he said, trying to focus on me. ‘Why is it so dark?’
    ‘The Serpent’s full of opium,’ I said. ‘It’s affecting you. Can you fix it?’
    ‘Opium,’ John said with distaste, dropping his head again. ‘Never tried the stuff; it killed too many of my people. Wait.’ He raised his head. ‘In the Serpent?’
    ‘The King’s filled the Serpent with opium. It’s making you like this.’
    ‘We’ll see about that,’ he said grimly, and flopped back on the bed, closing his eyes. His face filled with concentration, then he took a deep breath in and out again. ‘You’re right. Someone put it in my food. Must have injected a litre of the stuff into the chicken they gave me. I wondered why it tasted so bitter. Just give me a moment.’ His eyes snapped open, and this time his pupils wereenormous. ‘I’ve never taken opium, but I can see how it works and I think I can reverse the effect it’s having on me …’ He took another deep breath and held it.
    I held my own breath as I waited for him to let it out, but he didn’t. After a couple of minutes I couldn’t stay silent. ‘Edwin …’
    ‘I know,’ Edwin said. ‘If he goes blue I’ll do something.’
    John spasmed as if he’d been shocked and released the breath. He panted for a few moments, then turned to look at me. His eyes were back to normal. ‘Fixed.’
    Demons are retreating , Liu said.
    ‘This whole thing,’ I indicated the injured students around us, ‘it was just to try this out?’
    ‘Unfortunately, yes,’ John said. ‘And they gained some valuable information as well.’
    ‘What information?’ Leo said.
    ‘One, that I can act on the Serpent to clear any drug they try to use on it. And two, when I was talking to you, the Serpent was saying what I was saying. They know that I can speak through the Serpent — and therefore that the Serpent can speak through me.’
    ‘Oh, damn,’ I said.
    ‘I have patients to attend to,’ Edwin said, rising. ‘You’ll be fine. You may need to rest after the exertion.’
    John tried to sit up, struggled with it, and gave up. ‘Leo,’ he said.
    ‘My Lord?’
    ‘Go take a shower, you stink.’
    ‘With great pleasure, my Lord. May I suggest that you do the same because, with all due respect, so do you.’
    ‘Give me a hand to the Residence?’
    Leo grinned. ‘Sure thing, Dad.’
    John and I both stared at him in shock and said in unison, ‘ Dad ?’
    ‘I’m engaged to his son, aren’t I?’ Leo said, the grin not shifting. He put one arm around John’s shoulder and assisted him to stand. ‘I think that gives me every right to expect a trip to the ball game with you.’
    ‘Don’t push your luck,’ John said.
    ‘Leo, be quick, you’re needed back here,’ Edwin said.
    ‘Can you wait for me to help him back to the Residence?’ Leo said.
    ‘Go right ahead, there’s nothing critical. But come straight back when you’re done. An extra nurse is always good.’
    ‘I’ll take him, you stay and help,’ I said.
    ‘We’re both covered in turtle vomit, we need to clean up,’ Leo said, helping John towards the door. ‘You can mind him when I get him home.’
    ‘Do as the Immortal Lord says,’ John said, wincing as Leo guided him through the door. ‘He has precedence.’
    ‘Damn,’ I said, and followed them.
    Later that day, as dusk was falling over the compound, John lay on the bed and I gently worked over the acid burns, performing mild energy healing. I couldn’t fix them completely, but I was speeding up the healing process and in a couple of days he would be fine.
    ‘The biggest you can take without the Serpent’s help is about level sixty-five,’ John said. ‘The King would have torn you to pieces.’
    ‘He raped my nephews,’ I said.
    ‘Is that good enough reason to kill yourself seeking revenge? We fixed that death wish.’
    ‘My nephews will never completely recover and it’s his